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Cold Castles: Bad Climate for Imperial Science

March 4, 2010

To some people, the world would be a better place if ruled by scientists. They could be like a benevolent oligarchy, employing the knowledge gained by the scientific method for the good of the people. A recent editorial might shake that belief. In Nature News this week,1 Daniel Sarewitz had some sobering thoughts […]

Darwin and Evolution

Ida Not a Human Ancestor

March 3, 2010

If Ida known then what I know now: the media-frenzied presentation of Ida (Darwinius masillae) as a distant relative of human beings last year has been debunked. “Many lines of evidence indicate that Darwinius has nothing at all to do with human evolution,” said Chris Kirk (U of Texas) in an article on Science Daily. […]

Amazing Facts

Flight Design: Flies and Birds Get it Wright

March 3, 2010

Parse the following sentence for logical consistency: “Just as the Wright brothers implemented controls to achieve stable airplane flight, flying insects have evolved behavioral strategies that ensure recovery from flight disturbances.” That is the first sentence from a paper in PNAS yesterday about the stabilizers in fly wings.1 Ristroph et al just compared design principles […]

Origin of Life

Origin of Life: Claiming Something for Almost Nothing

March 2, 2010

Getting life to emerge from nonliving chemicals is either a cinch or the most impossible thing in the universe, depending on whom you ask. Let’s look at a couple of recent papers that suggest the origin of life was no big deal. A press release from the University of Colorado advertised a paper […]

Solar System

Swinging at Saturn’s Moons: Keep Your Eye on the Ball

March 1, 2010

To avoid being misled by planetary scientists, keep your attention focused on the age issue.

Bible and Theology

Depressed? Believe in a Caring God

February 28, 2010

“Belief in a Caring God Improves Response to Medical Treatment for Depression, Study Finds.” That’s what Science Daily said. The statement assumes, of course, that psychiatry knows what depression is. Another story on Science Daily worried that “Psychiatry’s Main Method to Prevent Mistaken Diagnoses of Depression Doesn’t Work.” It makes sense that diagnosis […]

Darwin and Evolution

How to Call Your Opponent Stupid Using Evolution

February 27, 2010

It may be that Professor Kanazawa was intending to be compassionate by couching his assessment in the language of evolutionary theory, but he essentially made a categorical judgment that conservatives and Christians are stupid, and atheists and the sexually promiscuous are smart. How could he say such a thing? He could dodge the charge of […]

Biomimetics

Life Leads the Way to Invention

February 26, 2010

Here’s a factoid for the party: a cell is 10,000 times more energy-efficient than a transistor. PhysOrg tells us that “ In one second, a cell performs about 10 million energy-consuming chemical reactions, which altogether require about one picowatt (one millionth millionth of a watt) of power.” This and other amazing facts lead to an […]

Amazing Facts

Making Evolution Simple

February 25, 2010

Getting the vast diversity of highly complex creatures seems an impossible task for evolutionary theory, but some recent stories claim it’s not so hard. Beak of the finch: Darwin’s finches keep pecking their way into the media. A new study claims that the wide diversity of beak shapes that have evolved can be explained by […]

Amazing Facts

Spider Hair: The Perfect Water Repellant Surface

February 24, 2010

To keep dry, make like a spider. “Engineering researchers have crafted a flat surface that refuses to get wet,” began a press release from University of Florida. “Water droplets skitter across it like ball bearings tossed on ice. The inspiration? Not wax. Not glass. Not even Teflon.” The audience waits breathlessly for the answer. “Instead, […]

Darwin and Evolution

Hopeful Monsters and Other Tales: Evolutionists Challenge Darwin

February 24, 2010

Two recent articles show that Darwin is not invincible. On one side he is being attacked by hopeful monsters. On the other, he is being attacked by an atheist truth-seeker. Neither of these attacks are coming from creationists. Return of the hopeful monster: Tanguy Chouard raised eyebrows in Nature News with a headline that sounds […]

Bible and Theology

Evolutionary Inferences: Are They Incontrovertible?

February 23, 2010

No matter what is found in plants or animals, it finds its way into an evolutionary explanation eventually. Are these explanations driven by the data, or forced into a belief system? Are other explanations possible? Some recent reports might inform these questions. Your inner plant: Get in touch with your inner plant with a report […]

Bible and Theology

Solomonic Wall in Jerusalem Announced

February 22, 2010

A large wall dating from the time of Solomon is being announced by the news media (see PhysOrg, Live Science and Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Archaeologist Eilat Mazar linked the structure, near the southeast end of the Temple Mount, to a Biblical passage in I Kings 3:1 that speaks of “until he (Solomon) had […]

Cosmology

Multiverse Explanations Are Fashionable, If Not Justifiable

February 22, 2010

How can scientists get away with speculating about unobservable universes, when science is supposed to concern itself with observation? “In the end, there is no way to know for sure what other universes are out there, or what life they may hold,” an article in PhysOrg ended, “But that will likely not stop physicists from […]

Amazing Facts

The Brain You Use, and How It Uses You

February 21, 2010

Neuroscientists continue to find out amazing things about the human brain. In some ways we are responsible to use our brains, but in other ways the brain does things to us. If nobody has figured out where the dividing line is for thousands of years, it’s unlikely we will today; but the following findings can […]

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